Rattlers work to iron out wrinkles against S.A. Holmes

SAN ANTONIO — On the first series of San Marcos’ scrimmage against San Antonio Holmes at Gustafson Stadium on Friday, senior running back Jamon Johnson broke to the left, juked a defender and found the endzone on a seven-yard run.

On the next drive, senior safety Therrance Soto read the eyes of the quarterback, jumped a route and intercepted the ball. Head coach Mark Soto was pleased to see the big plays come early.

He just wished they came more often.

“I saw a lot of good plays in sporadic fashion,” Soto said. “And that’s what we need to work on. We had some big plays, we had some tough, ‘grind ‘em out’ plays, but our effort wasn’t consistent enough where the Rattlers are supposed to be playing ball.”

The Huskies started slowing the Rattlers down as the exhibition wore on. The scoring stopped coming in bunches. Holmes’ offense started racking up yards. San Marcos lost fumbles on two different occasions.

“(Our effort’s) got to be more consistent and we’ve got to come in and make sure that we’re playing sharp,” Soto said. “I don’t know if we were sharp enough today.”

The Rattlers were able to bounce back, though. During a live-game situation, the Huskies took a 12-play drive down the field into the red zone. Three plays later, the defense still hadn’t let them past the goal line.

San Marcos quarterbacks Cameron Vidrine and Alex Garcia both made good use of the deep ball, finding receivers over 35 yards down the field. Soto was impressed with how well they managed the offense.

“We just learned that some kids can bite down on their mouthpiece and go, and other kids, we’ve really got to push along and bring along,” Soto said.

Soto was finally able to see what his team looks like in action, and said he knows they’ll be ready for week one.

“(We need) just a lot of focus, you know, kind of grind it down to the nitty-gritty, the meat and potatoes of offense and defense and special teams, and then push them through it,” Soto said. “So, we’ll be fine.”

The Rattlers will play the Hays Rebels in the 2018 regular season opener on Friday, Aug. 31 at 7:30 p.m. at San Marcos Toyota Rattler Stadium.